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THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC 
CANAL,  AN  HISTORICAL 
SKETCH  OF  THE  CANAL 
IDEA 


By 
RUDOLPH  J 


TAUSSIG 


Secretary    of    the    Panama- Pacific    International 
Exposition 


REPRINTED  FROM  **THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY" 
BY  H.  MORSE  STEPHENS  AND  HERBERT  E.  BOLTON. 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY,  PUBLISHERS.  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1917,  By  Tbs  MAOinxAN  Compaitt. 


uaiiurciiL  LiDrap/ 


SESSION   OF   THE   PANAMA -PACIFIC   HISTORICAL 

CONGRESS 

Held  at  Native  Sons  Hall,  San  Francisco 
July  23,  1915 

The  convention  was  called  to  order  at  8 :  30  p.m.  by  the  Chair- 
man. 

The  Chairman :  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  this  last  session  of  the 
Panama  Pacific  Historical  Congress  will  be  distinguished  by  the 
reading  of  a  paper  on  "  The  American  Inter-Oceanic  Canal :  an 
Historical  Sketch  of  the  Canal  Idea,''  by  Mr.  Rudolph  J.  Taussig, 
Secretary  of  the  Panama  Pacific  International  Exposition. 

Mr.  Taussig  will  tell  the  story  of  the  idea  of  making  a  canal. 
It  is  practically  the  same  thing  as  the  history  of  the  idea  of  making 
the  Panama  Pacific  Canal,  which  opens  a  new  era  in  the  history 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

I  have  the  aid  on  the  platform  here  of  two  distinguished  dele- 
gates, one  from  Spain  and  the  other  from  Japan.  During  his 
presence  at  the  Congress,  by  many  speeches  and  in  many  ways, 
Professor  Altamira  has  endeared  himself  to  those  who  are  responsible 
for  this  Historical  Congress.  Professor  N.  Murakami  has,  in  the 
excellent  paper  he  read  today  at  Palo  Alto,  shown  that  the  new 
land  of  Japan  is  as  interested  in  things  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  as  the 
old  land  of  Spain.  To  support  them  two  former  presidents  of 
the  American  Historical  Association,  Professor  Turner,  of  Harvard 
University,  and  Professor  Jameson  are  here  present.  A  little  later 
we  are  to  be  favored  by  another  former  president  of  the  American 
Historical  Association,  who,  while  he  has  written  history,  has  also 
made  it,  and  who  has  promised  to  be  present  shortly  to  tell  us  how 
he  made  the  Canal,  which  Mr.  Taussig  will  trace  from  its  original 
idea. 

I  present  to  you  Mr.  Rudolph  J.  Taussig. 
I  113 


THE   AMERICAN   INTER-OCEANIC   CANAL:   AN   HIS- 
TORICAL  SKETCH   OF   THE    CANAL   IDEA^ 

Rudolph  J.  Taussig 

The  task  assigned  to  me  by  the  President  of  the  American 
Historical  Association  for  the  Panama  Pacific  Historical  Congress 
of  1915,  is  perhaps  the  only  one  which  might  possibly  lie  within 
the  power  of  one  who,  like  myself,  is  not  a  trained  historian.  There 
are  no  evidences  to  be  weighed  —  one  against  the  other  —  nor  is 
there  any  great  question  to  be  solved  concerning  the  reliability 
of  the  sources  of  information. 

The  materials  that  could  possibly  be  made  use  of  are  first, 
the  records  of  voyages  made  in  search  of  "the  secret  of  the  strait" 
which  would  permit  a  direct  passage  of  ships  from  Europe  to  far 
Cathay  by  sailing  westward,  and  second,  the  various  schemes 
advanced  for  making  such  an  artificial  strait  by  the  work  of  man 
in  default  of  a  natural  one  already  existing. 

I  must  however  ask  your  indulgence,  as  it  was  by  no  means 
easy  to  reduce  the  great  amount  of  available  material  to  the 
limits  of  a  short  paper. 

It  took  a  little  over  four  centuries  of  search,  of  diplomacy,  and 
of  work  to  present  the  world  with  the  completed  water-way  and 
only  the  merest  outline  of  its  historical  development  can  possibly 
be  attempted  here.  The  poet's  dream  of  the  mingling  of  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  across  any  part  of  the  American 
continents  from  the  Straits  of  Magellan  to  the  Arctic  Ocean  must 
remain  a  dream  until  waters  run  uphill  and  cross  a  range  of  moun- 
tains or  until  the  mountains  themselves  are  moved  away. 

1  Whatever  may  be  "  worth  while"  in  this  sketch  is  due  to  the  friendly  advice  of 
Professor  H.  Morse  Stephens,  the  kindly  assistance  of  Assistant  Curator  H.  I. 
Priestley  of  the  Bancroft  Library,  and  Assistant  Professor  Chas.  E.  Chapman,  of 
the  University  of  California,  and  the  courtesies  of  Librarian  Frank  B.  Graves  of 
the  Mechanics-Mercantile  Library  of  San  Francisco. 

114 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  115 

A  small  water-way  between  the  oceans  was  established  within 
the  boundaries  of  the  Republic  of  Colombia  in  the  state  of  Choco, 
but  it  could  only  be  used  in  the  time  of  heavy  rains.  The  ravine 
of  the  Raspadura  unites  the  sources  of  the  River  San  Juan,  which 
flows  into  the  Pacific,  with  one  of  the  tributaries  of  the  River 
Atrato,  which  flows  into  the  Atlantic.  In  1788  the  cure  of  the 
village  of  Novita  employed  his  parishioners,  who  were  mostly 
Indians  and  negroes,  to  dig  a  small  canal  in  this  ravine  by  means 
of  which,  when  the  rains  were  abundant,  canoes  loaded  with  cacao 
could  pass  from  ocean  to  ocean.  Humboldt  said  that  this  inter- 
oceanic  communication  was  unknown  to  the  Spaniards  in  Europe 
and  gave  the  distance  from  sea  to  sea  as  about  300  miles,  but 
it  was  certainly  known  to  them  in  the  first  decade  of  the  19th 
century.  Here  then  is  an  account  of  a  canal  without  locks,  dug 
between  the  headwaters  of  two  great  rivers  which  flow  in  opposite 
directions. 

Humboldt  stated  his  belief  that  he  was  the  first  to  mention  it 
in  Europe.  He  said  that  it  might  easily  be  enlarged  if  other 
available  streams  were  joined  to  it  and  that  feeding  trenches 
might  easily  be  estabUshed  in  a  country  like  Choco,  where  it 
rained  during  the  whole  year  and  where  thunder  was  heard  every 
day.  Continuing  he  said  "that  the  ministry  at  Madrid  never 
enjoined  the  Viceroy  of  New  Spain  to  fill  up  the  ravine  of  Ras- 
padura or  to  punish  with  death  those  who  attempted  to  reestab- 
lish a  canal  at  Choco,  as  has  been  asserted." 

There  is  also  an  account  of  the  mingling  of  the  headwaters  of 
two  rivers  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  during  the  heavy  winter 
rains,  which  is  perhaps  of  equal  importance  with  the  mingling  of 
the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  St.  Lawrence  rivers  during 
the  time  of  the  spring  freshets — poetically  true  but  of  no  prac- 
tical value. 

The  publication  of  the  travels  of  Marco  Polo  at  the  end  of  the 
thirteenth  century  acquainted  Europe  with  the  port  of  Zaitun,  with 
the  name  of  the  Great  Khan,  with  the  country  of  Cathay,  and  with 
the  enormous  riches  of  the  Orient.  The  merchant  adventurers 
of  Venice  and  of  Genoa  were  eager  to  open  commercial  relations 
with  the  Far  East  and  overland  trade  routes  were  established,  — 
long  in  distance  and  fraught  with  danger  to  person  and  property. 


116  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

A  shorter  way  to  the  Orient  was  a  dream  without  hope  of  realiza- 
tion so  long  as  the  belief  prevailed  in  Europe  that  the  earth  was 
flat,  —  beginning  at  the  water's  edge  of  the  fierce  Atlantic  and 
ending  at  the  sea  beyond  Cathay. 

According  to  an  account  which  has  lately  been  questioned,  a 
Florentine  astronomer,  Paolo  Toscanelli,  expressed  his  opinion  in 
a  letter  to  the  King  of  Portugal  that  the  earth  was  round,  and  in 
1474  sent  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  Christopher  Columbus.  Co- 
lumbus had  come  to  the  same  conclusion,  namely,  that  by  sailing 
westward  he  would  reach  the  islands  and  mainland  of  Japan  and 
China,  nor  did  he  think  that  the  undertaking  would  be  so  difficult 
nor  the  voyage  so  long  as  some  supposed.  In  order  to  prove  his 
conclusion  and  to  present  Europe  with  a  solution  of  the  problem 
of  a  short  way  to  Cathay  and  its  enormous  wealth,  Columbus 
began  his  long  campaign  for  the  necessary  assistance.  He  was 
finally  fitted  out  by  the  monarchs  of  Castile  and  Aragon  for  a 
voyage  across  the  unknown  sea  to  India.  He  never  knew  that 
he  had  discovered  a  new  continent  and  could  not  understand  why 
he  could  get  no  information  concerning  the  Great  Khan  at  the 
city  of  "  Guesay,"  to  whom  he  carried  letters  from  Ferdinand  and 
Isabella.  While  preparing  for  his  fourth  and  last  voyage,  he  re- 
quested permission  to  carry  with  him  one  or  two  men  versed  in 
the  Arabic  tongue,  and  the  letter  from  Ferdinand  and  Isabella 
dated  March  14,  1502,  granting  his  request,  provided  it  should 
not  detain  him  too  long,  is  of  record. 

In  writing  to  Spain  from  Jamaica,  on  July  7,  1503,  Columbus 
stated  that  he  was  within  seven  days'  journey  by  land  from  the 
province  of  Ciguare,  which  was  but  ten  days'  journey  from  the 
river  Ganges,  and  that  when  he  was  upon  the  coast  of  Veragua 
he  was  relatively  in  the  same  position  to  Ciguare  as  Tortosa  on 
the  Mediterranean  to  Fuente  on  the  Bay  of  Biscay,  or  as  Pisa  on 
the  Ligurian  sea  to  Venice  on  the  Adriatic,  indicating  in  this  way 
his  information  concerning  the  existence  of  another  sea.  No 
doubt  this  but  increased  his  eagerness  to  find  the  strait  which  would 
permit  him  to  reach  his  destination,  although  he  seems  to  have 
satisfied  himself  that  it  did  not  exist  anywhere  within  the  ter- 
ritory which  he  himself  had  visited  thus  far,  that  is,  from  Cape 
Gracias  d  Dios  in  Nicaragua  to  the  Gulf  of  Paria  in  Venezuela. 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  117 

It  was  ten  years  later  that  the  sea  of  which  Columbus  had  been 
told  was  first  seen  by  Europeans  when  Balboa  led  his  expedition 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  in  1513.  Balboa  had  also  heard 
of  this  great  sea  lying  south  of  his  city  of  Santa  Maria  de  la  Anti- 
guedad  del  Darien  on  the  Gulf  of  Uraba,  and  had  been  warned  by 
his  friends  amongst  the  natives  of  the  great  difficulties  attending 
the  crossing  of  the  mountains,  and  the  necessity  of  a  large  force 
of  men  to  overcome  the  hostile  nations  which  would  bar  his 
progress.  But  the  lure  of  gold  and  pearls  permitted  no  obstacle 
to  stand  in  the  way  -of  discovery  and  wealth.  Balboa  did  not  long 
enjoy  the  fruits  of  his  expedition,  for  he  was  executed  in  1517. 
With  the  founding  of  the  city  of  Panama  in  1519  even  the  city 
of  Santa  Maria,  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself  and  which  was 
the  last  vestige  of  the  early  schemes  of  colonization  of  Nicuesa 
and  of  Hojeda,  gradually  disappeared. 

Animated  by  news  of  the  voyages  and  discoveries  of  Columbus, 
John  Cabot  and  his  son  Sebastian  undertook  to  find  a  way  west- 
ward to  where  the  spices  grew.  Judging  from  the  form  of  the 
sphere  that  the  voyage  would  be  shorter  if  they  sailed  in  a  north- 
westerly direction  they  prevailed  upon  Henry  VII  of  England  in 
1497  to  provide  them  with  two  vessels  for  their  purpose  of  dis- 
covery. They  expected  to  find  Cathay,  and  from  there  turn 
toward  India.  They  reached  the  American  continent  and  sailed, 
perhaps,  as  far  north  as  56°  latitude  and  as  far  south  as  Florida. 
Failing  to  solve  the  secret  of  the  strait,  they  returned  to  England. 

The  persistence  with  which  this  secret  (of  the  strait)  was  now 
pursued  would  seem  remarkable  were  it  not  for  the  ignorance 
which  so  long  prevailed  concerning  the  geography  of  America. 
Even  as  late  as  1843  Gen.  J.  C.  Fremont  in  his  report  upon  the 
exploring  expedition  to  Oregon  and  North  California  speaks  of 
his  search  for  the  Buenaventura  River  "which,"  he  says,  "has 
had  a  place  in  so  many  maps,  and  countenanced  the  belief  of  the 
existence  of  a  great  river  flowing  from  the  Rocky  Mountains  to 
the  Bay  of  San  Francisco." 

In  1514  the  King  of  Spain  directed  Juan  Diaz  de  Solis,  who  was 
sailing  for  the  new  world  under  the  King's  orders,  to  find  out  if 
the  country  we  now  call  Central  America  were  not  an  island. 

In  1519  Magellan  sailed  from  Spain  in  search  of  the  shortest 


118  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

way  to  the  Spice  Islands,  and  the  straits  that  bear  his  name  tell 
the  story  of  his  success.  He  was  the  only  one  who  did  find  a  way 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  without  sailing  around  Cape  Horn. 
This  however  was  not  particularly  satisfactory,  as  it  was  too  far 
south  and  the  navigation  stormy  and  diflScult. 

In  1521  the  Emperor  Charles  V  acknowledged  the  services  of 
Francisco  de  Garay  for  having  attempted,  though  unsuccessfully, 
to  find  the  strait  and  three  years  later  Lucas  Vasquez  de  Ayllon 
was  directed  to  continue  the  search. 

By  1525  it  was  generally  conceded  that  there  was  no  passage 
from  sea  to  sea  between  Florida  and  the  Gulf  of  Darien  (or  Uraba), 
and  more  attention  was  paid  to  the  latitudes  farther  north.  Este- 
van  Gomez  in  that  year  announced  his  ability  to  find  the  strait 
north  of  Florida.  He  returned  to  Spain  after  a  voyage  of  ten 
months,  naturally  without  success,  but  a  misunderstanding  of 
words  when  he  arrived  spread  the  report  over  Europe  that  the 
straits  had  been  found.  He  brought  some  Indian  prisoners  with 
him  who  were  to  be  sold  as  slaves,  and  due  to  a  confusion  of  the 
word  "esclavos"  (slaves)  with  "clavos"  (cloves)  the  news  went 
abroad  that  he  had  found  a  way  to  the  land  of  spices,  and  for  a 
time  considerable  credence  was  given  to  the  rumor. 

About  the  same  time  Pedrarias  Davila,  who  had  been  made 
governor  on  the  Isthmus  and  who  had  sent  expeditions  to  explore 
the  country  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Nicaragua,  where  the 
city  of  Granada  was  founded  in  1523,  expressed  his  conviction 
that  there  must  be  some  connection  between  Lake  Nicaragua  and 
the  South  Sea,  only  three  leagues  away.  He  was  certain  that 
this  would  be  found,  and  the  passage  from  the  Atlantic  by  way  of 
the  San  Juan  River  completed. 

In  1527  Hernando  de  la  Serna  was  ordered  to  explore  the  Chagres 
River  which  flows  into  the  Atlantic  and  the  Rio  Grande  which 
flows  into  the  Pacific  not  far  from  the  city  of  Panama.  He  it 
was  who  reported  that  at  high  tide  the  waters  of  the  two  rivers 
mingled  and  could  be  navigated  with  small  boats  from  sea  to  sea. 

Cortes  after  his  conquest  of  Mexico  devoted  time  and  energy 
to  the  exploration  of  both  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts,  en- 
deavoring to  find  a  way  from  ocean  to  ocean.  He  sent  a  small 
fleet  up  the  Atlantic  coast  from  Florida  and  also  fitted  out  several 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  119 

expeditions  on  the  Pacific  at  Tehuantepec.  The  latter  resulted 
in  the  discovery  and  exploration  of  the  Gulf  of  California. 

The  Emperor  Charles  V  in  1534  ordered  experts  to  examine 
the  land  lying  between  the  Chagres  River  and  the  South  Sea,  and 
to  report  upon  the  proper  means  to  connect  the  ocean  with  the 
river  at  its  head  of  navigation.  They  were  also  to  report  upon  the 
cost  of  its  accomplishment  in  time,  money,  and  labor.  Pascual 
Andajoya,  at  that  time  governor  of  the  province,  on  October  22 
replied  to  the  Emperor's  orders  to  assist  in  this  work,  that  he 
would  do  so  in  the  following  spring  as  it  was  impossible  to  ac- 
complish anything  during  the  winter.  At  the  same  time  he  asserted 
that  no  prince  no  matter  how  powerful  he  might  be  could  ac- 
complish the  union  of  the  two  oceans  nor  provide  means  for  con- 
necting the  ocean  with  the  river,  but  that  in  order  to  maintain  a 
road  between  Nombre  de  Dios  and  Panama  and  to  clear  the 
Chagres  River  to  the  head  of  navigation,  all  that  would  be  neces- 
sary would  be  to  provide  him  with  fifty  negroes,  who  would  do  the 
work  and  maintain  the  road  at  but  little  cost. 

In  1542  Juan  Rodriguez  Cabrillo  sailed  from  Navidad  and 
sighting  the  coast  of  Lower  California  on  July  2  explored  the 
coast  northward  and  entered  San  Diego  Bay.  Although  Cabrillo 
died  in  January  1543  the  voyage  of  discovery  was  continued,  the 
expedition  reaching  as  high  as  44°  N.  latitude.  Naturally  no 
strait  through  the  continent  was  found. 

Gomara,  the  Spanish  historian  whose  Historia  General  de  las 
Indias  first  appeared  at  Saragossa  in  1552-3,  wrote  that  the  voy- 
age from  Spain  to  the  Moluccas  by  way  of  the  Straits  of  Magellan 
was  long  and  dangerous. 

Speaking  with  men  well  versed  in  the  affairs  of  the  Indies  he  had 
heard  of  a  good  site  for  a  canal,  the  completion  of  which  though 
costly  would  not  only  be  advantageous  but  would  bring  glory  to 
any  one  who  would  undertake  it  and  accomplish  it.  This  passage 
would  have  to  be  built  through  Tierra  Firme  from  one  ocean  to 
the  other  by  one  of  the  four  following  routes : 

First,  by  way  of  the  Chagres  River,  which  rises  within  four 
leagues  of  Panama,  or 

Second,  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River  to  Lake  Nicaragua,  which 
is  only  three  or  four  leagues  from  the  Pacific  Ocean,  or 


120  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

Third,  from  the  River  of  Vera  Cruz  to  Tehuantepec,  or 
Fourth,  from  the  Gulf  of  Uraba  to  the  Gulf  of  San  Miguel,  a 
distance  of  twenty-five  leagues. 

The  last  two  he  considered  the  most  difficult.  There  were  lands 
to  overcome,  he  said,  but  there  were  hands  to  do  it.  The  spirit 
would  not  be  wanting  where  the  money  could  be  obtained  and  the 
Indies  where  the  work  was  to  be  done  would  provide  it.  If  this 
passage  were  built  one  third  of  the  distance  would  be  saved  and 
for  the  trade  in  spices,  for  the  wealth  of  India,  and  for  a  king 
of  Spain  the  work  was  but  a  small  affair. 

An  account  is  given  in  Purchas'  Pilgrims  of  a  Portuguese  named 
Martin  Chacke  who  claimed  to  have  sailed  from  the  East  Indies 
to  the  North  Sea  through  a  passage  in  latitude  59°  N.  in  the  year 
1565.  During  a  severe  storm  his  ship  was  separated  from  the 
balance  of  the  fleet  that  he  was  sailing  with,  but  by  finding  this 
passage  he  came  to  anchor  at  Lisbon  four  or  five  weeks  in  ad- 
vance of  his  companions. 

Again  came  the  rumor  that  in  1556  or  1557  Andres  de  Urdaneta 
had  discovered  the  passage  between  the  seas  and  that  Salvatierra 
had  traced  it  on  a  chart.  No  documentary  evidence  of  this  has 
been  found.  In  a  later  report  to  the  government,  Urdaneta  wrote 
that  news  had  been  received  in  New  Spain  of  a  passage  discovered 
by  the  French,  who  had  entered  it  by  way  of  the  coast  of  Labrador 
at  about  70°  N.  latitude,  thence  sailing  S.W.  to  below  50°  had 
found  an  open  sea  easily  navigable  to  China.  Furthermore,  said 
he,  a  passage  had  been  discovered  farther  south  by  the  same 
explorers,  and  Spain  ought  at  once  to  investigate  the  matter;  if 
found  true,  the  entrances  ought  to  be  fortified  for  protection  against 
foreign  aggression  or  use. 

In  1590  Padre  Jose  de  Acosta  in  his  Historia  Natural  y  Moral 
de  las  Indias  wrote  that  there  were  some  who  said  that  the  land 
would  be  submerged  if  an  opening  were  made  between  the  two 
oceans,  as  the  level  of  one  was  lower  than  the  other,  and  that  for 
the  same  reason  the  Red  Sea  had  never  been  connected  by  canal 
with  the  waters  of  the  Nile.  In  his  opinion  no  human  power  would 
suffice  to  level  the  rocks  and  mountains  which  God  had  placed  be- 
tween the  two  oceans  in  order  to  withstand  the  fury  of  the  waves. 
The   frequent   disasters   which   befell   expeditions   through   the 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  121 

Straits  of  Magellan  and  the  great  cost  of  that  voyage  made  trans- 
portation across  the  Isthmus  far  more  desirable.  WTiile  for  this 
purpose  Nombre  de  Dios,  the  Atlantic  terminus  of  the  road  to 
Panama,  was  fortified  to  protect  the  road  against  pirates,  the 
Straits  of  Magellan  were  forgotten  even  to  the  point  of  doubting 
their  existence. 

It  may  be  proper  here  to  mention  the  story  concerning  Philip 
II,  who  is  reported  to  have  prohibited  further  consideration  of  an 
inter-oceanic  canal.  A  later  Spanish  writer  states  that  if  such  an 
order  were  issued,  it  was  done  to  prevent  so  far  as  possible  any 
further  aggression  upon  the  part  of  other  nations.  An  attack  upon 
the  Spanish  possessions  would  have  been  made  far  easier  by  the 
existence  of  a  canal,  which  would  have  opened  the  way  to  Peru, 
where  otherwise  another  fleet  would  have  to  be  created  on  the 
Pacific  by  the  attacking  forces. 

Lucien  N.  B.  Wyse  mentions  this  matter  in  his  book  Le  Canal 
de  Panama,  published  in  1886.  He  says  that  he  examined  the 
Spanish  and  Granadan  archives,  looking  in  vain  for  this  decree 
supposed  to  have  been  issued  by  Philip  II  according  to  Alcedo. 
He  thinks  however  that  the  confusion  arose  from  a  decree  issued 
by  Philip  V  in  1719,  which  threatened  with  capital  punishment 
anyone  who  should  dare  to  make  any  further  investigations  con- 
cerning the  junction  of  the  River  Atrato  with  any  stream  flowing 
into  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  was  done  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
governor  of  New  Granada  in  order  to  protect  the  custom-house 
at  Carthagena  against  the  activity  of  smugglers. 

During  this  time  England  also,  developing  her  naval  power 
and  advancing  her  schemes  for  colonization  and  trade,  was  not 
idle  in  the  search  for  the  secret  of  the  Strait.  Her  sailors  swept 
the  seas  in  their  attempts  to  find  it.  Towards  the  end  of  the  six- 
teenth century  expeditions  under  Frobisher  and  Davis  tried  to 
find  their  way  through  the  northern  part  of  the  American  con- 
tinent and  left  the  names  of  their  commanders  on  our  maps  of 
the  waters  that  they  explored. 

Lorenzo  Ferrer  Maldonado  was  another  of  those  who  claimed 
to  have  found  a  passage  from  sea  to  sea  in  1588,  the  year  of  the 
Spanish  Armada.  While  his  account  seems  to  have  been  dis- 
credited in  his  own  time,  it  is  stated  by  Navarrete  that  two  hun- 


122  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

dred  years  later,  towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  con- 
siderable attention  was  paid  to  his  story  and  the  Spanish  govern- 
ment sent  the  corvettes  Descubierta  and  Atrevida  from  Acapulco 
to  investigate  and  report  upon  the  Maldonado  voyage. 

The  voyage  of  Juan  de  Fuca  is  reported  by  Purchas  to  have 
been  made  in  1592.  He  claimed  to  have  sailed  from  Mexico  up 
the  coast  of  California  in  search  of  the  reputed  straits  of  Anian 
and  the  passage  to  the  North  Sea.  When  he  arrived  in  latitude 
47°  N.  he  found  a  broad  inlet  between  the  47th  and  48th  parallels 
which  he  entered  and  after  sailing  through  it  for  twenty  days, 
came  into  the  Atlantic.  Having  thus  in  his  opinion  accom- 
plished his  purpose  he  returned  to  Acapulco.  The  only  record 
of  his  voyage  lies  in  the  strait  that  bears  his  name,  an  appella- 
tion of  later  date  than  the  supposed  voyage. 

The  right  worshipful  merchants  of  the  Moscovie  and  Turkic 
Company  of  England  fitted  out  two  vessels  in  1602  under  com- 
mand of  Captain  George  Weymouth  to  discover  the  northwest 
passage  to  China.  For  better  success  of  the  voyage  this  small 
fleet  was  provided  with  a  great  traveller  and  learned  minister  who 
had  been  in  Persia  and  Turkey  and  was  therefore  familiar  with 
the  language  and  customs  of  the  people  whom  the  expedition  was 
intended  to  visit.  After  sailing  along  the  coast  of  Labrador  for 
some  time  they  returned  to  England  without  having  accomplished 
anything.  No  better  success  attended  the  expedition  of  Master 
John  Knight,  who  was  sent  out  from  England  by  a  company  of 
merchants  in  1606,  but  returned  to  England  after  a  fruitless  voy- 
age full  of  hardships  and  mishaps. 

In  reviewing  the  voyages  made  in  search  of  the  straits  by  the 
English,  Purchas  expressed  himself  as  satisfied  of  its  existence. 
The  constant  great  tides  in  Hudson  Bay  every  twelve  hours  and 
the  increase  of  those  tides  whenever  strong  western  winds  blew, 
convinced  him  that  the  main  Western  Ocean  was  not  far  away. 
"So  may  all  the  world,"  he  says,  "be  in  this  beholding  to  us  in 
opening  a  new  and  large  passage,  both  much  nearer  and  safer  and 
far  more  wholesome  and  temperate  through  the  continent  of 
Virginia  and  by  Fretum  Hudson,  to  all  those  rich  countries  bor- 
dering upon  the  South  Sea  in  the  East  and  West  Indies." 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  123 

Philip  III  (1598-1621)  was  also  interested  in  finding  the  strait, 
and  there  is  a  letter  from  Pedro  de  Ledesma  on  behalf  of  the  King 
to  the  President  of  the  City  of  Panama,  dated  Dec.  31, 1G16,  con- 
cerning the  necessary  steps  to  be  taken  to  examine  the  entrance 
supposed  to  exist  by  way  of  the  River  Darien  to  the  South  Sea. 
Upon  the  same  date  he  also  directed  the  fleet  bound  for  Tierra 
Firme  to  make  the  same  investigation. 

In  1636  Francisco  de  Vergara,  to  whom  Spain  had  granted 
the  privilege  of  exploring  the  coast  of  California,  transferred  his 
right  to  Esteban  Carbonel.  The  privilege  was  withdrawn,  a 
suit  was  brought  against  Carbonel  and  he  was  arrested  because 
of  suspicious  circumstances  attending  his  proposed  voyage.  It 
was  learned  that  he  was  a  Frenchman  and  had  French  companions 
with  him,  some  of  them  from  New  France,  who  said  that  a  strait 
through  the  continent  certainly  existed.  Carbonel  had  been 
building  a  very  large  boat  secretly  on  the  Rio  Santiago  and  it 
was  thought  that  he  planned  to  seek  the  strait,  sail  to  France, 
and  thus  open  to  that  country  a  passage  to  the  Spanish  posses- 
sions on  the  Pacific. 

In  1640  Pedro  Porter  y  Casanate  presented  a  statement  to  the 
Spanish  government  concerning  the  advantages  to  Spain  of  a 
communication  through  California  between  the  North  and  South 
Seas.  He  recited  various  voyages  made  in  search  of  the  strait 
and  stated  that  after  comparing  most  of  the  narratives,  he  found 
no  bearing  exact,  no  distance  certain,  no  latitude  established,  no 
sounding  dependable  and  no  chart  correct.  These  unfavorable 
comments  upon  the  work  of  previous  explorers  are  criticized  by 
Navarrete,  who  thinks  that  they  were  made  for  the  purpose  of 
improving  Porter's  chances  of  being  entrusted  with  an  expedi- 
tion himself.  He  was  successful  in  this,  but  his  expedition  accom- 
plished nothing. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  17th  century  Diego  de  Mercado,  by 
birth  a  Fleming,  but  for  a  long  time  a  resident  of  Guatemala, 
proposed  to  connect  the  oceans  by  a  canal  from  Lake  Nicaragua 
to  the  Gulf  of  Papagayo.  Nothing  came  of  this  project,  for 
while  it  was  being  examined  and  reports  prepared  concerning  it, 
Mercado  died. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  17th  century  an  act  of  the  Scottish 


124  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

Parliament  was  passed  constituting  the  "Company  of  Scotland, 
Trading  to  Africa  and  the  Indies."  William  Paterson,  the  chief 
projector  of  the  Bank  of  England,  was  the  moving  spirit  of  this 
enterprise,  which  was  popularly  known  as  The  Darien  Com- 
pany. An  expedition  was  sent  out  from  Leith  in  July,  1698. 
The  opinion  seems  to  prevail  that  the  purpose  of  this  company 
was  to  connect  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans  by  a  canal  in  order 
to  facilitate  the  trade  of  Great  Britain  with  the  Orient.  I  have 
been  unable  to  find  a  single  expression  of  that  purpose;  on  the 
contrary  the  purpose  seems  to  have  been  to  establish  a  colony  on 
the  Atlantic,  then  in  course  of  time  to  establish  another  on  the 
Pacific  and  to  connect  these  two  great  emporiums  by  an  over- 
land route. 

"The  time  and  expense,"  wrote  Paterson,  "of  navigation  to 
China,  Japan,  the  Spice  Islands  and  the  far  greatest  part  of  the 
East  Indies  will  be  lessened  more  than  half,  and  the  consumption 
of  European  commodities  and  manufactories  will  soon  be  more 
than  doubled.  Trade  will  increase  trade,  and  money  will  beget 
money,  and  the  trading  world  shall  need  no  more  to  want  work 
for  their  hands,  but  will  rather  want  hands  for  their  work.  Thus, 
this  door  of  the  seas,  and  the  key  to  the  universe,  with  anything 
of  a  sort  of  reasonable  management,  will  of  course  enable  its 
proprietors  to  give  laws  to  both  oceans  and  to  become  arbitrators 
of  the  commercial  world,  without  being  liable  to  the  fatigues, 
expenses  and  dangers,  or  contracting  the  guilt  and  blood,  of  Alex- 
ander and  Csesar." 

Two  Franciscan  friars  who  explored  the  solitudes  of  New  Mexico 
in  1777  suggested  the  possibility  of  connecting  the  headwaters  of 
the  Colorado  River,  which  flows  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  with 
the  headwaters  of  the  Rio  Grande,  which  flows  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  While  the  sources  of  these  rivers  may  not  be  many  miles 
apart,  a  glance  at  the  map  will  sufiice  to  show  the  utter  impos- 
sibility of  realizing  such  a  dream. 

An  idea  with  some  possibility  of  fulfilment  was  the  plan  ad- 
vanced by  the  Biscayan  pilot  Goyeneche,  who  proposed  to  connect 
the  Bay  of  Cupica  with  one  of  the  branches  of  the  Atrato. 

A  great  many  other  attempts  were  made  to  find  the  secret  of 
the  straits,  besides  those  here  related,  but  sufficient  account  has 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  125 

been  given  of  the  continuous  efforts  made  for  several  hundred  years 
to  find  it. 

From  the  Arctic  Ocean  to  the  Straits  of  Magellan  no  tempting 
stream  that  poured  its  waters  into  either  ocean  was  neglected ; 
no  bay,  no  inlet  failed  to  receive  the  careful  examination  of  the 
explorer;  no  dream  too  wild  but  found  its  supporters — but 
all  to  no  purpose.  The  fact  remained  that  there  was  no 
open  way  from  ocean  to  ocean,  and  that  being  established  be- 
yond doubt,  former  plans  of  a  canal  were  revived  and  new  ones 
advanced. 

About  one  hundred  years  ago  nine  different  locations  for  an  in- 
ter-oceanic canal  had  been  thought  of,  discussed,  or  examined,  the 
number  having  been  increased  by  five  since  the  time  of  Gomara, 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  before.  They  are  given  by  Hum- 
boldt in  his  Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain  and 
copied  in  Thompson's  translation  of  Alcedo's  Historical  Dic- 
tionary as  follows: 

1.  By  connecting  the  headwaters  of  the  Colmnbia  and  Peace 
rivers  in  what  is  now  the  Dominion  of  Canada. 

2.  By  connecting  the  headwaters  of  the  Colorado  River  with 
the  Rfo  Grande. 

3.  By  connecting  the  River  Coatzacoalcos  (Huasacualco) 
with  the  Gulf  of  Tehuantepec. 

4.  By  way  of  the  San  Juan  River  to  Lake  Nicaragua,  thence  by 
cutting  a  canal  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

5.  By  way  of  the  Chagres  River  to  Panama. 

6.  The  project  of  the  Biscayan  pilot  Goyeneche  to  connect 
the  Bay  of  Cupica  with  the  River  Naipi,  a  branch  of  the  Atrato. 

7.  The  development  of  the  Canal  de  la  Raspadura,  which 
connects  the  Atrato  with  the  River  San  Juan. 

8.  The  Gulf  of  St.  George  on  the  Atlantic  side  of  Patagonia  was 
supposed  to  enter  so  far  into  the  interior  of  the  country  as  to 
communicate  with  some  arm  of  the  sea  entering  from  the  west. 

Humboldt  spoke  also  of  a  ninth  point  at  which  there  might  be 
a  communication  between  the  two  seas  by  way  of  the  Grand  Para 
River  in  Brazil,  but  went  on  to  say  that  "the  height  of  the  Cor- 
dillera and  the  nature  of  the  ground,  render  the  execution  of  a 
canal  impossible." 


126  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

In  a  later  work  he  reduced  the  number  of  possibilities  to  five, 
namely : 

The  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec 

The  Isthmus  of  Nicaragua 

The  Isthmus  of  Panama 

The  Isthmus  of  Darien,  or  Cupica 

The  Canal  of  Raspadura, 
all  placed  at  the  center  of  the  New  Continent  at  an  equal  distance 
from  Cape  Horn  and  the  northwest  coast. 

In  speaking  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  he  quoted  the  assertion 
of  a  traveller  that  the  hills  that  compose  the  central  chain  of  the 
isthmus  are  separated  from  each  other  by  valleys  "  which  leave 
a  free  course  to  the  passage  of  waters."  Humboldt  therefore 
concluded  that  the  research  of  engineers  charged  to  explore  those 
countries  should  be  principally  directed  to  the  discovery  of  the 
transversal  valleys.  It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  he  said  "  I  shall 
abstain  from  discussing  the  question  whether  this  ground .  should 
form  a  separate  republic  by  the  name  of  Junxtiana,  dependent  on 
the  federation  of  the  United  States." 

J.  P.  Eckermann,  in  his  "  Conversations  with  Goethe,"  writes  that 
while  at  table  on  February  21,  1827,  Goethe  spoke  a  great  deal 
about  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  whose  book  relating  to  Cuba 
and  Colombia  he  had  begun  to  read.  He  seemed  especially  in- 
terested in  the  project  of  a  canal  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama. 
"Humboldt"  said  Goethe  "has  indicated  several  other  places, 
which,  by  using  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  could 
be  of  greater  advantage  for  a  canal  than  Panama.  All  this  must 
be  left  for  the  future  and  for  some  great  enterprising  genius.  This 
much  however  is  certain,  if  a  canal  could  be  built  which  would 
permit  the  passage  of  ships  of  all  sizes  from  ocean  to  ocean,  the 
entire  world,  both  civilized  and  uncivilized,  would  reap  countless 
benefits.  But  it  would  surprise  me  if  the  United  States  would 
miss  the  opportunity  of  getting  such  a  work  into  their  own  hands. 
The  westward  tendency  of  this  young  nation  will  in  the  course  of 
thirty  or  forty  years  have  established  it  beyond  the  Rockies.  New 
trading  centers  will  spring  up  in  the  safe  and  roomy  harbors  on 
the  Pacific  coast  for  developing  commercial  relations  with  China 
and  the  East  Indies.    In  that  event  it  will  not  only  be  desirable 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  127 

but  also  necessary  that  both  merchant  vessels  and  men  of  war 
should  have  a  quicker  connection  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
than  is  possible  by  a  voyage  around  Cape  Horn.  I  therefore  re- 
peat that  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  United  States  to  build 
the  inter-oceanic  canal  and  I  am  sure  that  she  will  do  so. 

"  I  would  like  to  live  to  see  this,  but  I  will  not,  though  it  would 
be  worth  while  to  bear  life  for  fifty  years  longer  for  this  purpose." 

During  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  Spanish 
colonies  on  the  mainland  of  North  and  South  America  declared 
themselves  free  and  became  independent  states.  Early  in  their 
separate  political  existence  they  turned  their  attention  to  the 
construction  of  an  inter-oceanic  canal.  All  the  available  routes 
were  within  their  territory,  but  it  was  recognized  that  they  would 
be  unable  either  to  construct  or  protect  a  canal  without  the  help 
of  some  more  powerful  nation  or  nations. 

In  1880  President  Hayes  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  coast 
line  of  the  canal  should  be  "considered  a  part  of  the  coast-line 
of  the  United  States"  and  that  it  should  be  under  our  control. 
Until  that  time  the  policy  had  been  rather  in  favor  of  a  canal 
open  to  the  world  upon  condition  of  strict  neutrality,  and  it  is  per- 
haps true  that  all  other  problems  in  regard  to  the  canal  would  have 
been  solved  and  its  actual  construction  would  have  been  completed 
long  ago  had  it  not  been  for  difficulties  and  complications  arising 
out  of  the  questions  of  its  status  in  international  law. 

Bolivar  summoned  a  Congress  of  American  Republics  to  meet 
at  Panama  in  1826,  at  which  the  question  of  the  construction  of  a 
ship  canal  was  to  be  one  of  the  subjects  of  discussion.  In  his 
instructions  to  the  U.  S.  Commissioners  to  that  Congress  concern- 
ing the  diplomatic  status  of  the  canal,  Mr.  Clay  said,  "  If  the  work 
should  ever  be  executed  so  as  to  admit  of  the  passage  of  sea  ves- 
sels from  ocean  to  ocean,  the  benefits  of  it  ought  not  to  be  exclu- 
sively appropriated  to  any  one  nation,  but  should  be  extended 
to  all  parts  of  the  globe  upon  the  payment  of  a  just  compensation 
or  reasonable  tolls." 

Owing  to  the  delay  in  the  appointment  of  the  Commissioners 
they  did  not  reach  Panama  until  after  the  Congress  had  adjourned 
and  it  never  again  re-assembled. 

In  1835  a  resolution  was  adopted  by  the  Senate  of  the  United 


128  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

States  calling  upon  the  President  to  open  negotiations  with  the 
governments  of  other  nations  and  especially  those  of  Central 
America  and  New  Granada  for  the  protection  of  those  who  n^ight 
undertake  the  construction  of  a  canal  across  the  Isthnjus  and 
for  the  purpose  of  securing  forever  the  free  and  equal  right  of 
navigating  such  canal  to  all  nations  upon  payment  of  reasonable 
tolls. 

In  1839  the  House  of  Representatives  adopted  a  resolution  re- 
questing the  President  to  consider  the  expediency  of  negotiating 
with  other  nations  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  practicabil- 
ity of  effecting  a  communication  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
by  the  construction  of  a  ship  canal  and  for  the  free  and  equal 
right  of  navigating  it  to  all  nations.  Neither  of  these  resolutions 
obtained  any  practical  result,  but  that  of  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives seems  to  be  the  first  suggestion  of  the  construction  of  an  in- 
ter-oceanic canal  by  the  American  government. 

In  1845-46  Prince  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  while  yet  a  po- 
litical prisoner  in  France,  secured  a  concession  from  the  govern- 
ment of  Nicaragua  to  organize  a  company  for  the  construction  of  a 
canal  by  way  of  the  San  Juan  River  and  the  two  lakes  to  Realejo, 
to  be  called  "Le  Canal  Napoleon  de  Nicarague."  After 
his  escape  to  London  he  published  a  pamphlet  entitled  The 
Canal  of  Nicaragua  or  a  Project  for  the  Junction  of  the  Atlantic 
and  Pacific  Oceans  by  means  of  a  Canal.  In  this  he  said :  — 
"There  exists  in  the  New  World  a  state  as  admirably  situated  as 
Constantinople,  and  we  must  say  up  to  this  time  as  uselessly 
occupied.  We  allude  to  the  state  of  Nicaragua.  As  Constan- 
tinople is  the  centre  of  the  ancient  world,  so  is  the  town  of  Leon 
the  centre  of  the  new,  and  if  the  tongue  of  land  which  separates 
its  two  lakes  from  the  Pacific  Ocean  were  cut  through,  she  would 
command  by  virtue  of  her  central  position  the  entire  coast 
of  North  and  South  America.  The  state  of  Nicaragua  can  be- 
come, better  than  Constantinople,  the  necessary  route  of  the 
great  commerce  of  the  world,  and  is  destined  to  attain  an  extraor- 
dinary degree  of  prosperity  and  grandeur.  France,  England  and 
Holland  have  a  great  commercial  interest  in  the  establishment  of 
a  communication  between  the  two  oceans,  but  England  has,  more 
than  the  other  powers,  a  political  interest  in  the  execution  of  this 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  129 

project.  England  will  see  with  pleasure,  Central  America  be- 
coming a  powerful  and  flourishing  state,  which  will  establish  a 
balance  of  power  by  creating  in  Spanish  America  a  new  centre  of 
active  enterprise,  powerful  enough  to  give  rise  to  a  feeling  of 
nationality,  and  to  prevent,  by  backing  Mexico,  any  further  en- 
croachments from  the  North." 

Later  developments  in  France,  which  made  Louis  Napoleon 
Emperor  of  the  French,  ended  his  activities  in  this  connection  for 
the  time.  It  has  never  been  known  how  far  his  schemes  had  pro- 
gressed, but  it  has  been  reported  that  the  necessary  funds  were 
assured  and  the  arrangements  for  commencing  the  work  were  in 
progress,  and  that  it  was  the  English  operations  in  Central  America 
in  connection  with  the  Napoleonic  scheme  which  aroused  the  in- 
dignation of  this  country  and  eventually  led  to  the  Clayton-Bulwer 
negotiations. 

In  December,  1846,  a  treaty  between  the  United  States  and  New 
Granada  was  signed  at  Bogota  and  ratified  by  both  governments 
two  years  later.  One  of  its  articles  guaranteed  to  the  United 
States  that  "the  right  of  way  or  transit  across  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  upon  any  modes  of  communication  that  now  exist  or 
that  may  hereafter  be  constructed,  shall  be  open  and  free  to  the 
government  and  citizens  of  the  United  States,"  for  the  transpor- 
tation of  all  articles  of  lawful  commerce  upon  the  same  terms  as 
to  the  citizens  of  New  Granada.  In  return  the  United  States 
guaranteed  to  New  Granada  the  perfect  neutrality  of  the  Isthmus 
and  also  "  the  rights  of  sovereignty  and  property  which  New  Gra- 
nada has  and  possesses  over  the  said  territory."  No  notice  of  the 
termination  of  this  treaty  was  ever  given  by  either  party  thereto. 

The  acquisition  of  California  and  the  discovery  of  gold  there 
made  the  subject  of  inter-oceanic  communication  of  greater  im- 
portance than  ever  to  the  United  States.  Overland  routes  by  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama  and  across  the  Isthmus  of  Nicaragua  were 
opened  to  take  care  of  the  large  emigration  to  the  Pacific  Coast. 

This  led  to  the  construction  of  the  Panama  Railroad.  A  contract 
was  entered  into  by  a  party  of  Americans  with  the  Government 
of  New  Granada  for  the  exclusive  privilege  of  constructing  it 
across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  and  two  ports,  one  on  the  Atlantic 
and  the  other  on  the  Pacific,  were  to  be  free  ports.    A  charter  was 


130  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

granted  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York  for  the 
formation  of  a  stock  company  under  which  one  million  dollars 
of  stock  was  subscribed.  The  work  was  commenced  in  May 
1850,  and  the  last  rail  was  laid  at  midnight  on  January  27,  1855,  a 
locomotive  passing  from  ocean  to  ocean  on  the  following  day. 
The  construction  account  was  not  closed  until  January  1859,  at 
which  time  the  entire  cost  of  the  road  was  shown  to  have  been 
$8,000,000,  and  it  was  doing  a  profitable  business.  An  interesting 
report  concerning  the  road  states  that  in  1860  only  one-fifteenth 
of  its  freighting  business  was  due  to  the  California  trade,  the  re- 
maining f  ourteen-fif  teenths  consisting  mainly  of  shipments  between 
the  United  States  and  England,  and  Central  and  South  America. 
A  few  years  after  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  between  the  United 
States  and  New  Granada,  under  which  this  road  was  built,  ne- 
gotiations between  England  and  the  United  States  culminated  in 
the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty.  It  was  signed  at  Washington,  April 
19, 1850,  and  ratifications  were  exchanged  on  July  4th  of  the  same 
year.  Secretary  Blaine,  speaking  of  it  in  1881,  described  it  as 
"misunderstandingly  entered  into,  imperfectly  comprehended, 
contradictorily  interpreted,  and  mutually  vexatious."  It  owed 
its  origin  to  the  fear  of  English  aggression  and  was  hastened  by 
Great  Britain's  occupation,  under  assumption  of  a  protectorate, 
of  the  territory  at  the  mouth  of  the  San  Juan  River.  The  re- 
ports concerning  the  difficulties  to  be  encountered  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  had  led  to  a  more 
careful  consideration  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  of  which  the  San 
Juan  River  formed  the  Atlantic  entrance.  Representatives  of 
the  United  States  negotiated  treaties  with  Nicaragua  and  Hon- 
duras, which,  although  never  ratified,  were  used  in  persuading 
England  to  sign  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty.  The  English  gov- 
ernment was  informed  that  while  the  United  States  "  aimed  at  no 
exclusive  privilege  for  themselves,  they  could  never  consent  to  see 
so  important  a  communication  fall  under  the  exclusive  control 
of  any  other  great  commercial  power." 

Article  VIII  of  the  treaty  provides  that  "  the  governments  of  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  having  not  only  desired,  in  enter- 
ing into  this  convention,  to  accomplish  a  particular  object,  but 
also  to  establish  a  general  principle ;  they  hereby  agree  to  extend 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  131 

their  protection,  by  treaty  stipulations,  to  any  other  practical 
communications,  whether  by  canal  or  railway,  across  the  isthmus 
which  connects  North  and  South  America,  and  especially  to  the 
inter-oceanic  communications  should  the  same  prove  to  be  prac- 
ticable, whether  by  canal  or  railway,  which  are  now  proposed  to 
be  established  by  the  way  of  Tehuantepec  or  Panama." 

Many  insisted  that  by  entering  into  this  treaty  the  United  States 
had  abandoned  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  having  yielded  equal  rights 
to  a  foreign  country  in  regard  to  an  American  project.  The  treaty 
had  hardly  been  ratified  when  misunderstandings  arose  concern- 
ing the  construction  to  be  placed  on  some  of  its  stipulations,  and 
several  efforts  were  made  towards  its  abrogation,  but  England  re- 
mained tenacious  of  the  acquired  rights  to  a  share  in  the  protec- 
torate over  any  canal  that  might  be  built.  In  1860  President 
Buchanan  in  his  annual  message  said:  "The  discordant  con- 
structions of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  between  the  two 
governments,  which  at  different  periods  of  the  discussion  bore  a 
threatening  aspect,  have  resulted  in  a  final  settlement  entirely 
satisfactory  to  this  government,"  again  indicating  by  this  dec- 
laration that  the  United  States  made  no  claim  to  the  sole  control 
of  the  inter-oceanic  canal,  but  rather  favored  the  policy  of  having 
other  nations  join  with  them  in  guaranteeing  its  neutrality. 

A  few  words  ought  here  be  said  concerning  the  "Isthmus  of 
Darien  Ship  Canal"  which  was  strongly  urged  upon  England  by 
Dr.  Edward  Cullen  in  1851,  after  he  had  crossed  the  Isthmus 
several  times  between  Caledonia  Bay  and  the  Gulf  of  San  Miguel, 
a  distance  of  thirty-nine  miles.  By  utilizing  the  Savana  River, 
he  claimed  that  the  cut  to  be  made  would  cross  a  country  pre- 
senting but  a  single  ridge  of  low  elevation  and  would  not  exceed 
twenty-five  miles  in  length.  He  said  that  "The  canal,  to  be  on 
a  scale  of  grandeur  commensurate  with  its  important  uses,  should 
be  cut  sufficiently  deep  to  allow  the  tide  of  the  Pacific  to  flow 
right  through  it  across  to  the  Atlantic ;  so  that  ships  bound  from 
the  Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  would  pass  with  the  flood  and  those 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  with  the  ebb  tide  of  the  latter." 
The  cost  of  building  the  canal  was  estimated  at  £7,000,000  and 
"The  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Junction  Company"  was  formed,  its 
capital  being  fixed  at  £15,000,000.    Dr.  Cullen  stated  that  the 


132  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

government  of  New  Granada  had  conceded,  by  decree  of  Con- 
gress, Bogota,  June  1,  1852,  the  exclusive  privilege  of  cutting  a 
ship  canal  across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien  and  had  granted  200,000 
acres  of  land,  besides  those  necessary  for  the  canal  and  its  works, 
to  himself  and  his  associates.  It  was  expected  that  in  accordance 
with  the  provisions  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty,  Great  Britain 
and  the  United  States  would  extend  their  joint  protection  to  any 
company  undertaking  the  construction  of  this  canal.  The  Com- 
pany was  provisionally  registered  and  was  to  be  incorporated  by 
royal  charter  or  act  of  parliament,  limiting  the  liability  of  the 
stockholders.  The  short  account  here  given  of  Dr.  CuUen's  efforts 
in  behalf  of  the  Darien  ship  canal  was  obtained  from  a  book  pub- 
lished by  him  in  London  in  1853.  Towards  the  end  of  that  year 
the  United  States  government  sent  Lieut.  Isaac  C.  Strain  to 
Caledonia  Bay  with  a  surveying  party  to  examine  the  plan.  He 
reported  it  impracticable,  as  he  found  mountains  from  1000  to 
3500  feet  high  in  the  way  of  the  canal,  and  with  this  the  project  of 
Dr.  CuUen  was  abandoned. 

In  1858  Louis  Napoleon,  now  Emperor  of  the  French,  renewed 
his  activities  in  connection  with  the  canal  project.  A  company 
was  organized  under  his  protection  and  an  engineering  party  sent 
to  Nicaragua  after  obtaining  contracts  both  from  Costa  Rica 
and  Nicaragua,  but  the  enterprise  collapsed  for  want  of  funds. 
Ten  years  later  Napoleon  again  revived  his  project,  but  the  out- 
break of  the  Franco-German  war  ended  further  consideration  of 
the  matter. 

After  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  in  the  United  States,  our 
government  again  turned  its  attention  to  the  inter-oceanic  canal, 
and  in  1866  the  Senate  passed  a  resolution  requesting  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Navy  to  furnish  information  concerning  the  various 
proposed  lines  for  inter-oceanic  canals  and  railroads.  Rear-Ad- 
miral Davis  in  reply  submitted  a  report  giving  the  desired  in- 
formation and  also  set  forth  the  insufficiency  of  available  data. 
About  the  same  time  the  United  States  began  its  efforts  for  the 
abrogation  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty.  Mr.  Seward,  writing 
to  the  American  representative  in  London,  made  this  statement : 
—  "  At  the  time  the  treaty  was  concluded  there  was  every  pros- 
pect that  work  would  not  only  soon  be  begun,  but  that  it  would  be 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  133 

carried  to  a  successful  conclusion.  For  reasons,  however,  which 
it  is  not  necessary  to  specify,  it  never  was  even  commenced,  and 
at  present  there  does  not  appear  to  be  a  likelihood  of  its  being 
undertaken." 

During  President  Grant's  administration,  thorough  surveys 
were  made  of  the  various  canal  projects  and  considerable  valuable 
information  was  obtained.  Grant  enunciated  the  doctrine  of  "  an 
American  canal  under  American  control." 

In  1879  a  call  was  issued  for  a  conference  on  the  subject  of  an 
inter-oceanic  canal  at  Paris,  which  resulted  in  the  organization  of 
a  French  construction  company  under  the  presidency  of  Ferdi- 
nand de  Lesseps.  The  name  of  De  Lesseps  was  considered  a 
sufficient  guarantee  for  the  quick  and  successful  construction  of 
the  canal  and  it  stirred  up  considerable  feeling  in  the  United  States. 
It  was  announced  by  President  Hayes  that  "the  policy  of  this 
country  is  a  canal  under  American  control."  His  successor. 
President  Garfield,  in  his  inaugural  address  expressed  the  same 
views,  saying  that  it  is  "  the  right  and  duty  of  the  United  States  to 
assert  and  maintain  such  supervision  and  authority  over  any  inter- 
oceanic  canal  across  the  isthmus  as  will  protect  our  national 
interests."  The  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Blaine,  advised  the  Amer- 
ican representatives  in  Europe  that  this  policy  was  "  nothing  more 
than  the  pronounced  adherence  of  the  United  States  to  principles 
long  since  enunciated  by  the  highest  authority  of  the  government." 
England  however  maintained  her  position  of  reliance  upon  the 
terms  of  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  and  would  consent  to  no 
modification. 

About  this  time  an  entirely  new  idea  was  advanced  by  Captain 
James  B.  Eads,  who  had  made  a  great  reputation  as  an  engineer 
by  building  a  system  of  jetties  at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi 
River,  deepening  its  entrance  sufficiently  for  navigation.  He 
proposed  to  build  a  railroad  across  the  Isthmus  of  Tehuantepec 
which  would  carry  the  largest  ships  fully  laden  upon  its  cars  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  He  secured  a  concession  for  its  construction 
from  the  Mexican  government  but  nothing  ever  came  of  it. 

On  February  1,  1881,  the  Universal  Inter-oceanic  Canal  Com- 
pany, which  had  been  organized  by  De  Lesseps,  commenced  its 
work.    The  Panama  route  had  been  decided  upon  and  the  plans  for 


134  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

a  tide-level  canal  perfected.  Its  cost  was  estimated  at  $132,000,000. 
From  the  beginning  extravagance  and  corruption  reigned  supreme. 
All  kinds  of  merchandise,  necessary  and  unnecessary,  were  pur- 
chased at  enormous  prices.  Willis  Fletcher  Johnson,  in  his  book, 
Four  Centuries  of  the  Panama  Canal,  says:  "In  one  place  I 
saw  where  there  had  been  stored  a  huge  consignment  of  snow- 
shovels,  —  thousands  of  them.  In  another  place  there  had  been 
received  and  stored  some  15,000  kerosene  torches,  such  as  are 
used  in  torchlight  processions.  The  manufacturers  got  rid  of 
surplus,  out-of-date  and  almost  worthless  stock,  at  top  prices. 
The  purchasing  agents  got  large  commissions."  The  same  ex- 
travagance prevailed  in  the  construction  department.  Writing 
in  October,  1885,  Wyse  says  that  of  the  sixteen  or  seventeen  mil- 
lions of  cubic  metres  excavated,  but  twelve  millions  were  properly 
done  upon  the  canal  itself.  Then  there  is  an  account  of  millions 
spent  upon  hospitals,  stables,  oflBce  buildings,  roads,  etc.,  which 
cost  the  stockholders  three  times  as  much  as  they  did  the  builders. 
There  could  be  but  one  result.  After  seven  years,  in  1888,  the 
company  had  spent  $400,000,000,  not  half  of  the  work  had  been 
done,  and  the  company  was  bankrupt. 

On  October  21,  1893,  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company  was 
organized.  It  expected  to  complete  the  canal  by  an  additional 
expenditure  of  $180,000,000,  and  the  work  proceeded. 

Meanwhile  the  United  States  had  kept  a  jealous  eye  upon  the 
proceedings  at  Panama.  During  President  Arthur's  adminis- 
tration. Secretary  Frelinghuysen  had  negotiated  a  treaty  with 
Nicaragua  for  the  construction  of  a  canal  through  her  territory. 
This  treaty  was  still  before  the  Senate  when  President  Cleveland 
came  into  office  and  withdrew  it.  In  his  message  to  Congress  on 
December  8,  1885,  he  said:  "Whatever  highway  may  be  con- 
structed across  the  barrier  dividing  the  two  great  maritime  areas 
of  the  world,  must  be  for  the  world's  benefit,  a  trust  for  mankind, 
to  be  removed  from  the  chance  of  domination  by  any  single  power, 
nor  become  a  point  of  invitation  for  hostilities  or  a  prize  for  war- 
like ambition."  This  was  a  distinct  reaffirmation  of  the  Clay- 
ton-Bulwer  Treaty,  which  his  predecessors  had  endeavored  to 
abrogate. 

In  1890  the  Maritime  Canal  Company,  an  American  corporation. 


THE  AMERICAN  INTER-OCEANIC  CANAL  135 

began  work  at  Greytown.  After  three  years  they  had  spent  their 
entire  capital  of  $0,000,000,  and  owing  to  the  panic  of  1893  in  the 
United  States,  no  further  money  could  be  raised  for  it,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  the  Nicaragua  route  seems  always  to  have  been  the 
popular  one  in  this  country.  An  effort  was  made  to  have  the 
United  States  government  take  up  the  project,  and  the  matter 
was  still  pending  when  war  broke  out  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States  in  1898.  Then  came  the  spectacular  voyage  of 
the  Oregon  from  San  Francisco  to  the  West  Indies.  An  inter- 
oceanic  canal  had  now  become  a  public  demand  and  the  United 
States  must  build  it.  In  1899  the  President  was  authorized  to 
send  a  commission  to  investigate  both  the  Panama  and  Nicaragua 
routes.  This  commission  made  its  report  in  December  1900, 
stating  that  while  the  cost  of  the  canal  at  Panama  would  be  less, 
the  Colombian  government  "is  not  free  to  grant  the  necessary 
rights  to  the  United  States,  except  upon  condition  that  an  agree- 
ment be  reached  with  the  New  Panama  Canal  Company.  The 
commission  believes  that  such  agreement  is  impracticable." 
The  report  further  stated  that  in  its  opinion  "the  most  practicable 
and  feasible  route  for  an  isthmian  canal  to  be  under  the  control, 
management  and  ownership  of  the  United  States  is  that  known 
as  the  Nicaragua  route." 

Hardly  had  this  report  been  made,  when  the  commission  began 
its  negotiations  with  the  French  Company  at  Panama,  which  had 
estimated  the  value  of  its  property  at  $109,000,000,  while  the 
commission  thought  that  the  United  States  should  not  pay  more 
than  $40,000,000  for  it.  The  French  Company  finally  offered 
its  property  at  that  price  in  January  1902,  and  the  commission 
promptly  reversed  its  recommendation  and  urged  the  adoption  of 
the  Panama  route. 

Happily  also  the  Clayton-Bulwer  Treaty  was  superseded  by  the 
Hay-Pauncefote  Treaty,  which  was  ratified  by  the  United  States 
Senate  on  December  16,  1901,  thus  ending  a  long  controversy. 
It  granted  to  the  United  States  the  right  to  construct  the  canal 
and  also  "  the  exclusive  right  of  providing  for  the  regulation  and 
management  of  the  canal." 

In  June,  1902,  the  so-called  Spooner  Bill  was  approved,  and 
President  Roosevelt  was  authorized  to  purchase  the  rights  of  the 


136  THE  PACIFIC  OCEAN  IN  HISTORY 

French  Company  and  to  proceed  with  the  work  at  Panama,  under 
certain  conditions  to  be  granted  by  Colombia.  Should  he  be  un- 
able to  obtain  the  control  and  the  rights  desired  from  Colombia, 
he  was  authorized  after  negotiating  treaties  with  Costa  Rica  and 
Nicaragua  upon  terms  that  he  might  consider  reasonable,  for  the 
construction,  perpetual  maintenance,  operation  and  protection  of  a 
canal,*'  to  proceed  with  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal. 

Then  came  the  vexatious  negotiations  with  Colombia,  which 
finally  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  Republic  of  Panama, 
with  which  the  United  States  proceeded  to  make  satisfactory 
treaties  concerning  the  canal. 

The  story  of  its  construction  must  be  an  interesting  one,  but  it 
is  entirely  separate  and  apart  from  its  historical  development, 
which  I  have  endeavored  to  present  to  you.  We  are  here  to-day 
to  celebrate  its  completion,  and  it  will  be  one  of  the  most  interest- 
ing studies  of  the  years  to  come  to  watch  its  effect  upon  the  trade 
of  the  entire  world.  What  will  be  the  effect  of  the  closer  relations 
of  Europe  with  the  lands  of  the  Pacific,  and  what  effect  will  they 
in  turn  have  upon  Europe  ?  We  can  only  hope  that  the  same  gen- 
eral benefit  to  mankind  which  has  always  resulted  from  bringing 
together  more  closely  the  peoples  of  the  world,  will  also  prove  true 
in  this  instance,  where  they  have  been  brought  closer  together  by 
the  Panama  Canal. 

The  Chairman:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Panama  Pacific 
Historical  Congress:  When  the  idea  of  this  Congress  was  first 
started,  it  was  speedily  agreed  upon  by  the  members  having  charge 
of  the  programme,  that  there  should  be  a  series  of  papers  on  the  his- 
tory of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  culminating  in  a  paper  upon  the  history 
of  the  Panama  Canal  Idea.  That  paper,  as  written  by  Mr. 
Rudolph  J.  Taussig,  you  have  just  heard,  and  that  paper  will  be 
published  in  the  memorial  volume  of  this  historical  Congress; 
but  it  is  to  me  the  culminating  point  of  this  Congress  that  I  should 
be  able  to  call  upon,  in  succession  to  the  reader  of  the  paper  on  the 
"  Historical  Sketch  of  the  Canal  Idea,"  the  man  who  removed  it 
from  the  realm  of  ideas. 

I  present  to  you  Mr.  Theodore  Roosevelt,  a  former  president  of 
the  American  Historical  Association. 


I  ^am 


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